The disclosures herein relate generally to power transmission and more particularly to a gyroscopic torque converter.
Many attempts have been made to provide an efficient mechanical power transmission device that can successfully be used between a constant speed power source and a variable speed load for appreciable magnitudes of power. Most of those devices have been faced with the same problem, namely, after a spinning flywheel has been precessed 180xc2x0, there is a change in direction of the gyroscopic torque that is developed. Previous devices have attempted to overcome this reversal by allowing the gyroscope flywheel to turn about four axes, namely, the spin axis, the precession axis, the power axis, and a fourth axis which keeps the output torque unidirectional. This leads to a complex mechanism which cannot practically deliver appreciable power in a machine of usable size. Furthermore, this complexity leads to a prohibitive manufacturing cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,992,457, discloses a torque converter in which a spinning gyroscope is given a unidirectional input precession motion and which will produce a unidirectional resultant torque on an ultimately driven member varying within a wide range of values according to the resisting load on the ultimately driven member, and in which the resultant output precession movements of the gyroscope take place about the axis of the ultimately driven member.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,639,631, discloses a torque converter which utilizes the gyroscopic torque by decreasing the flywheel spin speed during the portion of the precession cycle when the direction of the developed torque is opposite to the desired direction. Hence, a number of flywheels, each producing an oscillating torque which is greater in one direction, can be combined to produce a constant unidirectional torque.
Therefore, what is needed is a torque converter device which overcomes the problems associated with previous devices and which is not overly complex or costly.
One embodiment, accordingly, provides a torque converter which provides an efficient mechanical power transmission device that can be used between a constant speed power source and a variable speed load for appreciable magnitudes of power. To this end, a gyro torque converter includes an input shaft and an output shaft. An outer gimbal is supported by the input shaft and the output shaft. An inner gimbal is rotatably mounted within the outer gimbal. The inner gimbal is connected to be rotatably driven by the input shaft. A gyro is rotatably mounted within the inner gimbal.
A principal advantage of this embodiment is that the torque converter device avoids the problems associated with prior devices without undue mechanical complexity or cost.